Gremill wrote:

67. Possessor
Finally got around to this and it didn't disappoint. Really creepy and disturbing with great performances by the cast. 8

Great isn’t it

Day of the dead definitely grosses me out more than the others. Some of those effects... yuck.

A Home of your own is a little curate's egg from 1964. It's a 45min silent short. A comedy featuring a lineup of Brit talent such as Ronnie Barker, Peter Butterworth, Bernard Cribbens et al.

It was originally made for a large building firm's annual lunch which usually showed a short film that celebrated the achievements of the year. It's a comedy but also a bit of a statement on the status of construction work - with 4 different utilities turning up and digging the same patch of road up etc. There's also a bit of union rep/tea break shtick.

It's very well made and has aged very well - feeling more up to date than one would think. The general comedy of errors a building site can be is captured very well. Worth a look if you can ever find it. I have it on DVD (there's an interview with the producer on the disk) - it was part of a boxset of silent 60s shorts I was gifted many years ago and this is the only one I had not watched - the others have gone to the charity shop (which is not a comment on the quality - they were all pretty good and felt more modern than expected). This is probably the pick of the set.

By all accounts it really struck a chord with audiences of the day. It was considered a comment on the general incompetence of government and business that the public felt at the time. This was the support feature at the premiere of Peter Sellers' A Shot in the Dark and apparently Sellers' co-star, George Sanders, said ,"Why did they show that first? Our film is going to deadly dull after that". Heh.

The Green Knight
I'm not familiar with the source material at all so was going into this with nothing to go off.
I think this led me to struggle a bit with some stuff. I have read a Variety bit since and it cleared up quite a few things just by linking back to the poem.

I did however enjoy the movie despite this. It is a beautiful film, especially the colour. Some fantastic acting too, they really utilised the characters and roles to do more than just deliver lines.

I will watch again in a month or two with some knowledge banked and hopefully be able to pick up on more.

Its not gory if thats what you mean. There's obviously some of it given the source material but its handled in an almost dream like or theatrical way. Hard to describe but not Saw like.

Tonally it is pretty grim
There's no Smash Mouth dance routines to be had in this one.

If you haven't already, it's worth reading the book for the history minus the jingoism.

Man Of Steel

I don't get the hate for this. Good fun superhero movie, great take on a Superman origin story and Henry Cavill is brilliant in the role.

I liked it more than most superhero films (and I generally tend to like them while watching, the majority of the Marvel ones are fine/good, for example). The Krypton stuff didn't do it for me, and while Amy Adams absolutely does she's a poor Lois Lane. Everything else was legit. Decent action, decent Supes, decent villain, big Superman II feels. I should watch it again at some point.

Definitely the worst superhero movie I've ever seen, horrible on all kinds of levels.

93. The Mummy Returns
The action is more over the top, the mythology gets muddled, and the cg regularly step past what was competently possible at the time. But dang it's still fun.
[6]

94. Sound of Metal
Very confidently made first feature with excellent performances and some original feeling story beats. Didn't get pulled into it as much as I thought I would though.
[8]

95. Candyman (2021)
I remember the original feeling like a drama with a horror edge but this was a horror film that wasn't scary with half baked drama and story threads with too much cg. Disappointing.
[4]

Shame about Candyman. I've read enough unimpressed opinions to burst my hype bubble now. Love the original.

It is a shame because it's visually stunning throughout and it has some nice visual ideas as well as a criminally underused main theme song but the story is just a jumble really. Lots of snippets of things that never go anywhere or are just quickly brought up to push the iffy main story forward. And they really do lose a lot by not having Tony Todd's voice calling for you the whole time.

The most disappointing thing for me being that the scare set pieces were neither scary or surprising apart from a couple of bits. The first film has some great moments throughout. This one just never really lands any of those moments for me, it has a creepy tone but then meh payoff. It's certainly not helped by all the CG usage in those bits. I'm sure I've been fooled by fake CG blood in the past but I wish more directors would commit to dirtying up their sets a little or risking those longer shot resets if the take doesn't work. I can understand why they use it but it's just not as effective

68. Free Guy
Well that was really fun. Smiled the whole way through and had a great time. Just so charming with a surprising amount of heart. Thumbs up from me. 8

Boss Level is very much what you need then. It's fun, silly and fight scenes are awesome. Plus the soundtrack is excellent!!

I've been trying to watch the original extended cut because I've not seen it but my wifi is playing up in the bedroom for some reason so I've not got very far. Still the best zombie film going